~ Not so daily, but definitely Dahlia.

Tag Archives: Tara Dairman

You guys know I’m not much of a Middle Grade reader, but there are a few authors for whom I happily make exceptions…like Tara Dairman and her series about a tween foodie named Gladys, the third book of which, Stars So Sweet, releases July 19th! One of the things I desperately look for in MG, to the shock of no one, is the presence of LGBTQ content, so I’m particularly excited to be hosting this guest post for the Stars So Sweet blog tour…and I’ll let Tara take it away from here!

Near the end of my new middle-grade book, STARS SO SWEET, a 12-year-old character admits to having a crush on a kid of the same gender. (I won’t say which character or gender here, since it’s kind of a spoiler.)

I remember the day I turned the first draft in to my editor. I took a deep breath before pressing send. I felt 100% right about the choice to include this twist in the book–it was something I’d always known about this character, and I felt that I’d written the pivotal scene well. But it hadn’t been in my proposed outline, and it had surprised a few of my beta readers. It might surprise my editor as well.

To her, and my publisher’s, credit, no one ever suggested I remove it. They asked me to shore up the narrative so that the “reveal” scene was better set up, and they told me to be prepared for backlash–for e-mails from offended readers, for the book possibly being censored in some places. But more likely, they said, the response would be too quiet to quantify. The book would simply not sell to some libraries and families; I’d never hear about why.

While my middle-grade series focuses primarily on foodie adventures and friendship, it touches on first crushes, too. THE STARS OF SUMMER (book 2) even has a first kiss. So in this third and final book, it would have felt disingenuous to me to hide this particular character’s feelings just because they were same-sex. It would have offended me to leave them out.

Advance copies of STARS SO SWEET have been out in the world for a few months now, and I’m pleased to report that pushback has been minimal so far. The couple of readers who have contacted me with concerns about this plot point have been polite and open to a frank dialogue. And I’ve heard from other readers in appreciation of the story line, too. I hope that both of these trends continue.

When I was growing up, “gay” was a playground slur, and there were virtually no gay characters in books for young readers. That’s not the world I want the next generation to come of age in. I want my readers to know that feelings like this character’s are normal and no big deal, and I want them to be able to read books in which that normalcy is reflected.

I deeply admire the YA and MG authors who are creating this literature for young readers, and with the publication of STARS SO SWEET, I’m proud to take my place among them.

Tara Dairman is the author of the middle-grade foodie novel ALL FOUR STARS (Putnam/Penguin) which was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month and won a 2015 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award. THE STARS OF SUMMER followed in 2015, and STARS SO SWEET (7/19/16) completes the series. Tara grew up in New York and holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College. After surviving the world’s longest honeymoon (two years, seventy-four countries!), she now lives in Colorado with her family.

As the summer winds down and Gladys Gatsby prepares to start middle school, she is nervous about juggling schoolwork and looming deadlines from her secret job as the New York Standard’s youngest restaurant critic. When her editor pushes for a face-to-face meeting to discuss more opportunities with the paper, Gladys knows she must finally come clean to her parents. But her perfectly planned reveal is put on hold when her parents arrive home with a surprise: her Aunt Lydia, one of the only adults who knows her secret, fresh off the plane from Paris. Gladys and Aunt Lydia try one last ruse to fool her editor at the Standard, but even with her aunt’s help, Gladys just can’t manage the drama of middle school and a secret life. It’s time for Gladys to be true to herself and honest with her friends and family, regardless of what those around her think.

So, as I’ve mentioned before, I only take part in blog tours when I super, super adore both author and book. I have to cop to the fact that I am supremely behind on my non-YA reading thanks to blogging responsibilities, but A) I adored book one in this series, All Four Stars, enough to be fully confident in its sequel, The Stars of Summer, which just came out yesterday and B) I adore Tara a whole lot too 😉 (Come to think of it, it seems I do blog tour stops strictly for macaron buddies. Huh.)

So, what else makes me so confident in this book? Well, duh, it’s a foodie book, and knowing that Tara writes with so much respect for kids and produces books that are fun and delightful and foodtastic without writing down to the reader was honestly my first big MG revelation. So, yeah, much positivity toward these books!

In this charming sequel to All Four Stars, eleven-year-old foodie Gladys Gatsby now has her first published review under her belt and is looking forward to a quiet summer of cooking and reviewing. But her plans quickly go awry when her friend Charissa Bentley delivers Gladys’s birthday gift: a free summer at Camp Bentley.

As Gladys feared, camp life is not easy: she struggles to pass her swim test and can’t keep the other campers happy while planning lunches. The worst part is she can’t seem to get away from the annoying new “celebrity” camper and sneak away for her latest assignment—finding the best hot dog in New York City. But when it turns out her hot dog assignment was a dirty trick by a jealous reviewer, Gladys’s reviewing career may be over forever.

In honor of the fact that Gladys goes hunting for New York’s best hot dog, Tara asked if we’d share our favorite hot dog recipes. I…have no hot dog recipes, but I do know what I like in a condiment, so, let’s talk about this!

1. Mustard. You might think ketchup, but it turns out you’re actually wrong. Please don’t argue with me; this is science.

2. Barbecue sauce. If a sauce in the red color family is gonna go on your hot dog, there really is only one choice. It’s still not ketchup.

3. Chipotle sauce. My husband and I have a policy of buying literally every product we see that both mentions chipotle and has kosher supervision. As a result, we have a very weird number of chipotle sauces/mayos/whatever, but on the bright side, they’re good on hot dogs!

4. Onion jam. This is the new love of our home. My husband made it to go in a gift basket for a holiday, and we’re kind of addicted to eating the leftovers on our hot dogs. NO REGRETS. Personally, I have zero patience to make anything at home that doesn’t say Duncan Heinz on the box, but thankfully, he’s not the same way, so if you’re feeling adventurous or at least a little curious, here’s the recipe he made that we now swear by: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/08/seriously-italian-onion-and-rosemary-confiturra-recipe.html

YUM.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to prepare for Tara’s next visit to NYC; we have some macaron shopping to do.

Tara Dairman is the author of ALL FOUR STARS, which was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month and a Mighty Girl Top Book of 2014 for Teens and Tweens. She is also a playwright and recovering world traveler. She grew up in New York and received a B.A. in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College. After surviving the world’s longest honeymoon (two years, seventy-four countries!), she now lives in Colorado with her husband and their trusty waffle iron.

Okay, so, this is sort of a tricky The Broke and The Bookish category for me, being that I am a 2014 debut, but I’m also a reader, and a blogger, and book buyer, and I decided to factor in all sorts of Reasons, and here are the 10 I ended up with!

BEHIND THE SCENES, by me (June 24). Sorry, but no matter how much I love you, I’m still the most excited for mine. The rest of these are out of order, but rest assured, in my brain, I am totally number one.

OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord (April 15). I was dying for this book from the second I knew of its existence. Then I got to read it in October 2013, and I loved it, and now, I can’t wait for everyone else to read and love this glorious story of friendship and romance and travel as well.

HOOK’S REVENGE by Heidi Schulz (September 16). Speaking of friends, Heidi’s pretty much one of the greatest. Not only that, but I know this MG is one I’m gonna be buying for every kid I know in the target age range, and I’m so, so excited for that part. What kid could possibly resist a story from the perspective of Captain Hook’s daughter??

POINTE by Brandy Colbert (April 10). Darkness and dancing and that cover – oh my! I’ve been drooling over her book since forever and need it on my shelf ASAP. The fact that it has blurbs from two of my absolute top favorite authors – Courtney Summers and Nina LaCour – doesn’t hurt!

SEKRET by Lindsay Smith (April 1). This is another one I was privileged to get to read in 2013, so I’m more excited to have it be publicly available to my fellow Russophile public than anything else. This book had my heart pounding, and it’s gonna be followed by a sequel in 2015, and…I mean…RUSSIA. Like, how can you not die for that immediately??

BETWEEN by Megan Whitmer (July 29). I read this manuscript a billion revisions ago, and I don’t use “LOL” lightly, but for real, a zillion times while reading this one. I can only imagine how good the final version is.

TRUST ME, I’M LYING by Mary Elizabeth Summer (October). That cover. That description. A freaking con-artist MC. Like, I’m sorry, but this book sounds awesome, and most probably is, and I need it, and that’s just how it is.

OF SCARS AND STARDUST by Andrea Hannah (Fall). This is another one I read at an early stage, and it’s been flying under the radar, probably in large part because the author was doing the whole “having a baby” thing as the whole deal went down. But make no mistake – this book is gorgeous, and chilling, and twisted, and one I cannot freaking wait for everyone to get their hands on. Particularly if you’re a fan of Nova Ren Suma’s work, this is going to be one of your favorite 2014 debuts – mark my words.

RITES OF PASSAGE by Joy Hensley (September 9). So, until recently, I had no idea what this book was about. Then someone on Twitter mentioned wanting a military school YA, and I thought YES, and someone else piped up that this was one, and I ran to Goodreads, and OH MY GOD LONG STORY LONG I NEED THIS BOOK. I freaking love military fiction; Nelson DeMille was my crack, once upon a time, and obviously LORDS OF DISCIPLINE by Pat Conroy and ugh, just, I need this.

ALL FOUR STARS by Tara Dairman (July 10). This is literally the only MG I read last year, and not only was it adorable, but it contained one of my very favorite themes – FOOD. Being super new to MG, I was prepared for it to “write down” to younger kids in the foodie regard, but it did not, at all, and this is another one I am super psyched to buy for the MG-reading kids in my life!

Advertisements

Search Posts by Subject

Search Posts by Subject

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.